Finding an Alchemist in Saltmarsh

Aug 17, 2017

Blessed Joramy sent us onwards from the Serpents Eye, towards what men know as "civilization". Well my first impression of civilization on approach to Saltmarsh was it smells like Torbaks tent the morning after a night on the fermented yaks milk the desert tribes trade. Piss shit and puke mixed with something rotten. I already longed for a return to the mountains with their fresh smell of brimstone.

A couple of drinks in what they call an inn was all it cost us to find the location of the alchemist from the local drunk. Apparently his home is know known as the haunted house and was just outside town. Apparently he abandoned his friend who died in the house by ghosts. These civalized men have no stomach for adventure it seems. I trusted in blessed Joramy and doubted the house was haunted, we would be looking for more mundane fiends.

So off to the house we travelled, as the drunk had told us it was massively run down and in poor state. The well was unmaintained and dry, the doors off their hinges. On exploration of the house we found what I beleive to be the 2nd item of power Joramy has lead us to. A suit of armour, but the corpse it still wrapped was infested with rot grubs. So until we located the alchemist I was unable to retreive the armour.

An exploration of the house turned up no sign of the alchemist or his expected laboratory. We did find a strange fellow tied up in one of the rooms, he claimed to have been "exploring" the house when someone bashed him on the head. He did sport a head wound but his story did not ring true to us so we kept a close eye on him looking for proof of deceipt. Later in the day he was to show his true colours.

Eventually we discovered a hidden entrance we had missed in our first pass of the house. Down we went into a hidden cellar of the house. Disturbing a bunch of gentlemen in their business. They attacked us as was predictable as we charged in weapons drawn. After a relatively bloodless fight helped by the mages stunnind ability to put people to sleep we had captured the business men and tied them to their beds. I had to use Joramy's blessing on the business mens mage as he had met an accident thanks to our brutal and bad tempered dwarf. But Joramy was generous and his wounds closed over.

While the businessmen were recovering we discovered the alchemists lab in a secret room guarded by skeletons. Another of Joramy's blessings on some pebbles I had picked up earlier allowed the mage to decimate the skeletons with some expertly thrown stones. Inside the alchemists lab we found some form of seeing device. This device allowed the mage to read the proficy of doom.

Returning to the room where we had tied up the businessmen we got into a heated debate about their fate. I put forward my argument that they were business men, we had actually been the instigators of the violence and left to their own devices they would escape in an hour or two by the time we were well on the road and out of danger from retaliation. The mage seemed to agree in part with my argument, he seemed a good chap and not wishing to slaughter people just becuase we can. The rest of our group though are much more bloodthirsty. Led by the brutal grumpy dwarf the others were all for slaughtering the men in their beds. I am doubting Joramy's wisdom in some of my companions. Eventually I convinced the monk of the right of our ways and the Mage, Monk and myself left to recover the armour. With their help I was able to burn out the rot grubs and recover the armour of power.

I to this day do not know the fate of those businessmen, I hope the dwarf and ranger eventually saw sense and left them be, but I fear their dark sides won over that day and there is a basement of skeletons.